Simple Rooting Guide (without galax0/galaxher0 roms)

For those who are a bit tentative with this kind of thing (i was aswell as it was all a bit new), this guide should help.
I know there have been other guides about but things have been made alot simpler for rooting the galaxy and as such i deem it a good thing to give a more updated way of doing this.
Ive also done it so i can add it to the stickies

First of all some understanding of root:
Root does not suddenly make things better, faster. if you have an understanding of linux you will know what root is.
As with linux there is a downside to root due to the level of access (remember the saying "he who logs in as root kills the tree") which means you can potentially destroy important things on your phone with ease as you have that level of power.
Root access or "SU" is elevated access rights to that of a full administrator (or close)
there are many apps that require root and on top of that you can add further functionality with root access

I cannot stress enough that this is completely at your own risk.
If you dont have a reason to root and dont require custom firmware or custom apps that need root then dont bother doing it.

Step 2 - download the Android SDK, this is large but you need the Tools from it in order to access the device to make modifications.
make sure you extract it to an easy location like c:\

Step 3 - ADB (pain in the arse) we need to get the driver installed for ADB, some people have random issues with ADB and Fastboot, this is mainly driver related and can be a pain in the rectum if you are using x64 vista or windows7.
on x86 operating systems you should be fine just enabling development mode and connecting it to the device (settings>applications>development>USB debugging)
If this has issues you can download the modified sdk drivers that i have tested and work from herehttp://www.yardimage.co.uk/files/i7500/samsungADB.zip
you could also try installing Driod Explorer from here (it will not fully work with the phone till its rooted but should install the drivers) Droid Explorer
This part also applies if you have problems with Fastboot.
alternatively check the post here

Step 7 - Navigate to SDK tools folder in command promt (eg. cd\ hit return then cd C:\android-sdk-windows\tools) then type fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
at this point you should get "waiting for device"

Step 8 - power down device, reconnect to usb while powered down, boot into fastboot by holding "Dial+ok+power". you should see on the galaxy "fastboot mode" and if its successful it will show the amount of bites pushed to the device and after 15 seconds it will boot back into the device normally.
if you have issues with fastboot driver showing Android1.0 in windows device manager, follow the steps for ADB linking the Android 1.0 to the ADB device driver

Step 9 - Power down device and then boot into recovery (volumedown+dial+power) you should see a nice big galaxo recovery menu with plenty of options

Step 10 - Do a nandroid backup from that menu to save your current configuration if anything bad happens in the future

Step 11 - in the menu select "Enable root (SU)" click home to confirm then click "reboot system now"

You should now be rooted
most of the functions from droid explorer should now work and on top of that if you use a terminal like better terminal you can do some cool things with your phone

Wonderful mate. Been waiting for something like this - I'm no noob but the other guides (no offence to anyone ) were a little tricky to follow - at least with such an expensive device that I'm stuck with for the next couple of years anyway

I would really love to be able to make a full backup, system settings and all. To do that, I gather I will need "Nandroid", and thus this recovery image. I don't think I have any further need of being root. Also, I'm quite happy with the stock K4 firmware, so I don't plan to try the custom Galax* roms (which I believe are built on an earlier firmware).

No matter what I do, fastboot times out and does a normal startup, while my terminal still says "<waiting for device>".

My Device Manager (while doing all sorts of plinky-plonky sounds) gets an entry for "Other devices: Android 1.0", but no matter what driver I feed it, it ends up saying "There was a problem installing this hardware: Samsung Galaxy Composite ADB Interface".

The entry is still there, but it has a symbol on it. I have no problems mounting and accessing the sdcards, so something is working.

I have installed NPS, Eclipse, and the SDK; I really think it's the drivers. What more can I try, are there alternative drivers I could try?

I would really love to be able to make a full backup, system settings and all. To do that, I gather I will need "Nandroid", and thus this recovery image. I don't think I have any further need of being root. Also, I'm quite happy with the stock K4 firmware, so I don't plan to try the custom Galax* roms (which I believe are built on an earlier firmware).

No matter what I do, fastboot times out and does a normal startup, while my terminal still says "<waiting for device>".

My Device Manager (while doing all sorts of plinky-plonky sounds) gets an entry for "Other devices: Android 1.0", but no matter what driver I feed it, it ends up saying "There was a problem installing this hardware: Samsung Galaxy Composite ADB Interface".

The entry is still there, but it has a symbol on it. I have no problems mounting and accessing the sdcards, so something is working.

I have installed NPS, Eclipse, and the SDK; I really think it's the drivers. What more can I try, are there alternative drivers I could try?

Click to expand...

what os are you running? x64 or x86?
you should be able to use the same driver you use for ADB
Does ADB work for you?

its a bit wierd that it says there was an error
you might have to be even quicker at locating the driver as you have 15 seconds to get it located and installed
you have to make sure you are using the "have disk" option and manually pointing it to the device

EDIT: im going to uninstall the fastboot driver and try again for your benefit as i might have borked something with these drivers

EDIT2: you can use Samsung Galaxy Composite ADB Interface or Bootloader interface
fastboot devices for me shows a ? but commands still function correctly

I'm using Windows XP so that would be x86. I don't think I can be any quicker with the driver selection, as it's already filled in and I'm just pressing No-Next-Next-Finish. That's at work at least, so further work will have to wait until tomorrow.

I'm not sure if ADB works, because I have no experience with it. I'll do a spot of research to learn how to test it out.

I'm using Windows XP so that would be x86. I don't think I can be any quicker with the driver selection, as it's already filled in and I'm just pressing No-Next-Next-Finish. That's at work at least, so further work will have to wait until tomorrow.

I'm not sure if ADB works, because I have no experience with it. I'll do a spot of research to learn how to test it out.

Click to expand...

i have xp mode on my windows7

will try this out

to test if ADB works, make sure debugging is enabled
connect the device then do
cd\
cd android-sdk-windows\tools
adb devices
it should list something there.

put the usb folder in c:\ so its easy to find
have device manager open and ready to rock
boot into fastboot
when the device shows in windows device manager. right click it and click update device driver
Check "no, not this time" next
Check "install from a specific location (advanced)" next
Check "Dont search, i will choose the driver to install" next
highlight "show all devices" next
Click the "have disk" button
click browse
go to "C:\usb_driver\x86" click on "android_usb.inf" ok
select "SAMSUNG GALAXY composite ADB Interface" next
click Yes to the warning

once complete next time you use fastboot it should work correctly

it doesnt matter if the phone has already booted into normal as long as you can get to the wizard you are fine with XP x86 (32 bit)
if it was vista or windows7 you would have the 15 second cut off

it doesnt matter if the phone has already booted into normal as long as you can get to the wizard you are fine with XP x86 (32 bit)
if it was vista or windows7 you would have the 15 second cut off

Click to expand...

Oh neat. I thought the 15-second limit was due to the phone, since the fastboot screen times out and starts loading the OS.
As for the procedure, I think that's what I'm doing, but I will try it out again first thing in the morning.

Oh neat. I thought the 15-second limit was due to the phone, since the fastboot screen times out and starts loading the OS.
As for the procedure, I think that's what I'm doing, but I will try it out again first thing in the morning.

Click to expand...

its mainly the last steps
choose modem and have disk are very important

the timelimit is down to the phone but if the phone drops vista and win7 cannot find the device to install so it denies it

I'm kind a new in all this but far from having no experience whatsoever. The problem I have is that i think my fw (IG8) is missing a lot of commands. When I try to do a

ls -la

I get

-la No such file or directory

I have a root access, can get anywhere in the fs, copy files, delete them but I can't install busybox because I always get Read Only File System. Do I have to remount each time i want to make some changes? any ideas?

Thank you for the well made information how to root the phone, but unfortunately Drakaz's Recovery package download seems to be down, even when registered, can't download it. So, wanted to ask if there is any alternative place where to download it?